Lost brothers
by Sky Venom
Summary: "I mean, Elijah won't even show his face! He's so disgusted by our bickering!" said Kol in S4E11, and I thought: "Oh, he misses his brother..." So, I wrote a one-shot about them after Kol's death, mostly memories. It's also the 2nd part of a longer saga, it happens after the 6th/during the 7th chapter of my other story, One step back in time, but can be read without it.


**_Lost brothers_**

_"Hi, Elijah, this is me, Kol, as you must have seen since you ignored me again for the hundredth time. I get it, why you don't want to hear from me, but believe me, this is important even for you now. Call me, when you finally listened this message._

_This is not about some stupid debate which you are so bored and me too, it's really important and I think you are the only one that can stop them, I'm not enough. I need you, Elijah. They went completely insane, Rebekah and Klaus, and everyone in Mystic Falls. They want to raise this Silas thing. Have you ever heard about him? I'm sure you have. You know about everything. So, he's dangerous, but they don't believe me that he will destroy all of us and our world too. I don't want this world to be destroyed because I like it the way it is and I know so do you – and yeah, I admit it only to you that I'm afraid of him 'cause he's stronger than all of us would be together._

_I need your help to stop this._

_I'm already on the case, so don't worry too much, you don't need more wrinkles, but I don't know if I can succeed. I am not good at saving the world, it's you. The thing is that I know what they need to do the ritual. They have everything in separate places: the sword of a Hunter of the Five, a Bennett witch, who you already know and a Hunter of the Five in full bloom, because they are back, and it's Jeremy Gilbert, and since they are all helping him to complete his mark, he is almost ready. The thing is that they don't care about Silas, but they need to wake him to get a cure for vampirism. It's supposed to be for Silas, but they want it to either Klaus or Elena Gilbert, or themself, I don't now and I don't care since I will prevent it any way I can think of. Maybe my methods aren't the best, but I must try, Elijah, even if I die trying. I have the white oak stake all the time with me, but they are after me. I don't want you to save my ass again, but you are the only one that I can trust, and I also want you to know that I tried._

_I tried, Elijah, but I can't know how it ends, so I want to tell you how much I always appreciated that you'd been standing by me. You were always the best brother possible while I was the worst. I'd really like to say that now I'm doing this to fix some of my past faults, but you'd still know it's not true and I'm still the selfish jerk I've always been._

_So, anyway, I told you what I wanted, but I'm not that selfish this time. I don't want you to help – well, I want, but I won't ask. Do as you wish, I take all the responsibilities. Enjoy your freedom, you deserved it. And call me maybe, like they sing it in that silly song, when you're missing me. Bye!"_

**_Beep._**

His voicemail went silent. That was it. This single message from his little brother took more than half the capacity of his voicemail, but he still felt it too short.

Last day, his phone rang all day, and he took the effort to pay attention only in the morning – until that, he preferred the pleasant company of Katerina to the complaints of his siblings. He couldn't care less this time, he needed some rest after a thousand years. He ignored them since he left Mystic Falls, he never listened his voicemail – it was automatically deleted after a month if not saved – nor he read his messages from them. Still, today was a special day for him. He finally slept with the woman of whom he waited five whole centuries. _Half of his life._ He felt a bit stupid for he was still dreaming about the same woman, and since it was Katerina, he needed to remain suspicious until anything else is proven. He should return to reality now, so he left her in the bed and did some catching up about his siblings.

It was easy with Klaus and Rebekah since they lived together, and Rebekah texted him dozens of times per week, while Klaus sent him spicy quotes about what he missed almost daily.

He didn't care. Then, he found the most recent message. It was from Klaus; it was short and shocking.

"_I need you to come home. I'm prisoned in the Gilbert house. They are gonna kill me, I send you their whereabouts, take care of them. They already killed Kol."_

He could not breathe for minutes, he simply did not understand what his brother wrote. Kol cannot be killed.

And when did it happened? Why? He didn't waste a thought about Klaus' orders. Kol was the only one who let him be for a while, but for days he kept on calling him, but never sent a message.

Only a voicemail, wich he listened now, but for the moment, Kol's phone seemed to be off.

_He can't be dead._

Elijah had to listen it one more time. He needed to hear his voice again.

-x-x-

Kol was the sweetest baby he thought to be born on Earth. Elijah was ten years old that time, and Kol was his first brother he remembered as a baby, since Niklaus was only two years younger.

He still remembered the hours when they were waiting with his father and his brothers, when Ayanna came out of the room. Until then, they heard so much screams and shouting that he could literally feel his mother's pain. Kol was her only child whose birth she never talked about.

"It's a boy," Ayanna announced. His father only nodded and left to continue his daily routine. Finn, Niklaus and himself stared at each other, then Niklaus shrugged.

"Another boy, who cares? At least a sister would be pretty." He run outside and Finn followed him as he always was in Niklaus footsteps knowing he was a wild child. Finn instead liked peace and he tried to keep his brothers calm too, but Niklaus and Elijah were always fighting as if they were born to be enemies till death. Elijah knew that another brother meant only more trouble for Finn.

It seemed that only he was excited about his newborn brother, but he was so curious, he waited quietly for Ayanna to return with some supplies for his mother. Beside excitement, he was also afraid of what he'd see there, so he needed all of his bravery to ask Ayanna:

"May I go in with you?"

"Yes, you can" she answered with a sad and understanding smile. He still remembered this moment and now he also saw the meaning behind the words. Ayanna was so wise. "But be silent."

He did so. His mother was half sleeping, and little Kol laid next to her on the bed. She didn't have the strength to hold the baby to herself. Elijah sat on the bed next to them. He looked shyly at his mother; he had never seen her this tired before. He turned to his little brother seemingly asleep, but when he carefully touched his purplish face, Kol opened up his eyes. Elijah feared that he would cry, because babies did it often.

"Please don't cry, little baby, I'm just your older brother!" he pleaded him and put his hand on Kol's. It was so small, but Kol liked his touch, he looked interested. "I'm Elijah, and I like you and I will be here for you always and forever" he promised him.

_And now I wasn't._

-x-x-

Kol was a mischievous toddler and he grew up to be a rogue teenager. However, Elijah always saw that it was not his fault: he was uncontrolled because their parents had other problems. Elijah was already grown-up, so he understood well the situation of his family: Finn was the eldest, so both their parents were proud of him, and he became a good and reliable son. In spite of him, Niklaus was wild and he was the bad boy of the town, so he took all attention and rigour. Rebekah was the little princess, while Henrik, as the youngest, the baby. Kol and Elijah himself remained always on the periphery of their parents' vision, although Elijah managed to stay there because of their constant feud with Niklaus. But Kol... Elijah let him follow him when he was little, but he was the only brother that let Kol be involved in his stuffs. After Rebekah was born, they grew close, but when they discovered that Rebekah was handled differently, Kol began to follow suit his brothers again. That's also why he never wasted a thought on his own little brother, Henrik. He was still unnoticed by their parents, and as he did wilder and rougher things, Elijah realised that their parents didn't feel the strength to control him beside Niklaus. They simply left him be and let him be forgotten and lost.

Elijah tried to help him, but he was not his father, so the only thing he could do was to stand by him and clean up his mess. Kol was always angry at him when he was helping, but he accepted it because he also needed it. So many times when Elijah took him home after a fight with a werewolf boy – or a pack –, collect him when he got drunk, or later, when he found out what girls are for...

No one in their family has ever got to know that they still had a living bloodline – well, not one, _more _– thanks to Kol.

_And now he has to carry the regret through the eternity for not telling his brother he was a father._

-x-x-

When they turned, all his siblings reacted differently. Finn was sad and wanted to die. Niklaus was angry after his werewolf side got awakened, and considered their mother a liar who betrayed them all – but mostly him. Rebekah cried for days, because she wanted to be a wife and a mother, but now people feared her, and she was not even a witch anymore. Elijah himself was the calmest: neither he did understand what exactly happened, but his personality made him accept every situation rapidly, then take the control over his life again.

Unlike his siblings, Kol could not be happier with the developments. He always tried to be stronger, but now he was one of the strongest beings of the world. He was the powerful creature of the night and that made him self-confident and really evil.

While Finn ran away because of the shame, Kol fled to terrorise the unknowing people all over the world, and when he got bored, he visited his family to terrorise them.

_And I let him do this because he enjoyed it and I had never seen him so joyful any other time._

-x-x-

"So, mate," Klaus opened the conversation. Elijah frowned when Klaus called his own brother 'mate'. "Why we get the respect to be your hosts again? Don't you have a castle in the countryside here? Or are you so full of human blood that you can't take in more? I heard that you take a bath in the blood of virgins daily, don't you?"

"You are always welcomed here, Kol" Elijah interrupted before Klaus got over their brother's infamously low limits of tolerance.

"You are always so nice to me face to face, Elijah, but you know, I don't care" he answered. "Neither 'bout you" he turned to Klaus.

"Are you sure?" Klaus asked in a threatening tone. "You might think you're the strongest, but I am superior to you!"

"Thanks, good to know," he shrugged, "but don't be too narcissistic, because one day, I may call you out for an open fight heard and seen by everyone. What would you say? Are you scared of getting beaten by me?" He threw a cocky smirk towards Klaus, who growled back at him.

"Let us know about how are you doing nowadays instead" Elijah changed the topic.

"Nothing particular. Feeding and killing and sex and entertainment. Though I'm waiting for an answer to my question."

"I don't think it is a proper subject for dinner" Elijah said.

"You know what?" Kol asked dropping everything from his hands on the table. "Then I don't dinner. I don't need it. But I want to hear that answer out loud!"

"Please, Kol, wait a bit..."

"No, mate, you don't need to wait. I'm done with dinner." Klaus stood up from his chair. "You desire this answer so much, so you get it! Please, walk outside with me."

"Don't." Elijah said determinedly.

"Are you speaking against me?" Klaus shouted.

"No, I only think that_ I_ should escort Kol out and he should not arrive uninvited next time."

"Please, Nik" asked Rebekah, who was frightened of the tension between them. Elijah was grateful that she spoke for the first time this night, because she was the only soft spot of their brother.

"Well, he should never return to us, if so, I will kill him and everyone who he'd ever met!" Klaus promised.

"That includes you, too!" Kol laughed.

Elijah rose and hoped Kol would follow him outside. Anger still boiled in Kol's eyes, but now this was for Elijah.

"Why do you always feel the urge to defend me?"

"You are my brother!" he began, but Kol was too impatient to listen.

"I don't care! You are a hypocrite, and you don't have to prevent me to confront with Klaus just because you did and lost!" he shouted at him then left on vampire speed.

_Only I was sticking to a promise that I made unasked and unanswered._

-x-x-

Next morning, Elijah felt something was wrong, but he thought it was the bitter memory of last night fight. However, it wasn't. Klaus was still out and he arrived early afternoon covered in blood. His face was numb and he didn't say a word which meant something was extremely wrong.

"What happened?" Elijah asked worriedly.

"_Kol_ happened" he answered in a sepulchral voice.

"What? No! He left last night, I saw!" He swallowed. His guts already knew he's going to hear some really bad news.

"Not so far from here, he moved in to a village. I went to feed there in the morning and I found him there, sitting on the top of a huge pyramid of dead bodies. I didn't kill him just for food, he said to me he will always be only one step ahead of me while driving me crazy. I couldn't let him run!

"No."

"I had to kill him, Elijah" He cried on the voice of the scared little brother who did something wrong, and Elijah had to listen the whole story. "Do not blame me this time!"

"No..." he sighed trying to control his grief. "What did you do, Niklaus? Why could you not let him run? He was only..."

"What?" Klaus hissed. "Are you siding with him again? While you're staring at me covered only in my own blood, because he was too obsessed with ripping my heart out of my chest that I was not capable of making a single scratch on him! I'm thankful that I was aware of the danger he meant and I took the silver dagger with me! But dare not blame me this time, Elijah, for not letting myself killed, because that's exactly what you're also doing all the time, but now, I was all alone with him, and he was stronger than me, Elijah, and you're siding with him_ when he was stronger than me!"_ he cried. He was not able to ramble more, he fell on his knees and began sobbing. Elijah didn't know how to react, he had never seen Klaus break down like this before. He was sobbing alone and he seemed so vulnerable... he embraced his crying little brother and for the moment, he could forgive him for the fratricide.

_Still, I never forgot..._

"I don't take sides when it's about my siblings." he stated.

_But deep inside, I always did. I was always in Kol's side more than the others', even when he didn't need it. He became strong on his own._

_Still, when once he was in real need, he remained alone. And he died._

_And now, the second time I left him, he's gone forever - before getting my forgiveness and apologies which he earned and deserved._

Elijah always considered Kol to be the lost brother, but this time, he felt it was himself. He was making a series of mistakes, but now, he knew how he should fix them, no matter how hard this way is...

_**THE END**_

* * *

_**Dear readers, it was a special story for me. I'd say I hope you enjoyed it, but I would not be honest. I wanted to make you feel... so let me know if you did - or not. English is still not my first language, so I have a lot to learn.**_

_**Anyway, it's part of a longer saga, which I'm writing. If you are interested about the mistakes Elijah made, read my other story, One step back in time, which is the first part and is in progress.**_

_**Bye ;)**_

_**SV**_


End file.
